


Silvery Moon

by kcstories



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Community: rarepair_shorts, F/M, wishlists event
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-04-06
Updated: 2008-04-06
Packaged: 2018-07-22 00:00:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7410388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kcstories/pseuds/kcstories
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After his best friend's death, Gregory sees no reason to keep hanging around Potter's lot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Silvery Moon

**Author's Note:**

> **Warnings:** AU-ish.   
> **Disclaimer:** The Potterverse is JKR’s, not mine. 
> 
> Written as part of the 2008 Spring Wishlists Event, but because I'm a muddlehead I forgot for whom. Sorry, recipient, if you recognise your gift from back then, please yell at me and I'll add your name :o)

The moon is bright as Gregory Goyle slowly heads away from the campsite.

He still has great difficulty believing everything that happened only a few hours previous.

Vince—his best friend since they were both in nappies—is dead.

This mere fact is almost impossible to get his head around, even though when he considers all aspects of it, he has to admit this outcome shouldn’t surprise him—not really.

They both should have followed their instincts, not stuck by Malfoy unconditionally like a pair of mindless lackeys.

What is that one playing at, anyhow? What are he and his parents trying to prove here? Or is this just their way of betting on two horses simultaneously?

Gregory never understood the Malfoys, or their allegiance only to themselves. To him, their behaviour seems… reckless, not the sort of thing Slytherins would do, no matter how subtly they went about it.

Regardless, it has been enough—more than enough.

The time has come to rejoin the others.

Perhaps they’ll take him back.

He remains, after all, a Pureblood and a Slytherin, one of _them_ , and he has acquired knowledge of certain plans and strategies they might find useful.

Truth be told, he’d rather not betray anyone. He’s got nothing against Harry Potter or any of his lot, personally. He’s just struggling to stay afloat; there’s nothing wrong with wanting to live, is there?

He’s got no chance at survival if he stays here. Even if the Order does win this war, his fate has been sealed. He doesn’t have the kind of money the Malfoys do, he wouldn’t be able to buy his way back into anyone’s good books, and besides, Potter’s lot will never accept, let alone trust him.

He straightens his shoulders and takes a deep, fortifying breath. It’s definitely time to get a move on.

“Gregory?”

He blinks. Did he actually hear that, or was it just a trick of his imagination? Probably the latter, he decides. No one calls him ‘Gregory’. It’s always ‘Goyle’. Well, all right, Vince used to call him ‘Greg’, but Vince is gone.

“Gregory? Where are you going, Gregory?’

He turns around to face the speaker. It’s Luna Lovegood, the weird one from Potter’s troop. With her long blond hair and flowing white dress, she looks almost ethereal in the moonlight. The smile she gives him seems genuine.

He wants to snap at her, tell her to sod off and leave him alone, but he finds himself incapable. There is something disarming about her presence or maybe his fighting spirit has deserted him, died along with Vince.

“I wouldn’t risk going into that forest if I were you,” Luna says matter-of-factly. “Some of the night-creatures... You mustn’t wander into their territory. They're quite dangerous.”

“They couldn’t be much more vicious than your lot,” he says, but any nastiness he intended falls flat. He only sounds resigned.

“Is that why you’re leaving?” she asks. “Are you scared one of us will hurt you?”

It’s the sort of question that would certainly be insulting when uttered by anyone but Luna, and in that case, he’d be livid beyond words and quick to deny and protest and defend himself, but the only emotion expressed on her face is genuine concern. It leaves him feeling even more deflated.

“Why wouldn’t you hurt me?” he mumbles. “Draco, Vince and I did nothing but treat you and you friends like crap these past few years. You’ve got no reason to be kind, or even civil.”

“People change,” Luna says with a shrug. “And you’re on our side now, aren’t you?”

“I’m on no one’s side,” he replies before he has the sense to stop himself, but it’s true enough. He barely knows who he is anymore, let alone what he’s supposed to believe in.

“Well, it’s been a long, tiring day,” Luna says simply, “and you’ve just been through a horrific experience. Maybe things will look a little brighter in the morning.”

She holds out her hand, and he blinks.

“We wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to you too, Gregory.”

The bare sincerity behind her words stuns him into silence, and before he realises what he’s doing, he clasps the hand she offers him and allows her to lead him back to the others.

Perhaps Potter and his troop really are as noble as their reputation suggests, and perhaps Gregory has also found a new reason to stay.


End file.
